Modern organisations rely heavily onMicrosoft technologies like Office 365, Azure, E5 suites and more. But this reliance brings with it an equally long list of licensing agreements. Most large businesses find themselves juggling several Microsoft licenses, each with different start dates, renewal cycles and terms and conditions.

Some contracts renew monthly ,others quarterly or annually; it all depends on when they were initially signed. As the number builds up, it quickly becomes a complex web of renewals that is almost impossible to track manually.

When poorly managed, these contract dates slip by unnoticed and automatically renew by default, even if they’re not being used. What we often see is smaller contracts being easily forgotten, but still renew at full cost, and teams missing the opportunity to downgrade, optimise or reallocate licenses based on current usage.

In short, IT and finance teams lose visibility of what they’re paying for, resulting in redundant licenses and gross overspend.

Businesses find themselves locked into contracts with license types or quantities that no longer match their workforce needs. Over time, these missed renewals add up to significant financial waste, sometimes hundreds of thousands annually across global enterprises. Security suites like Microsoft E5 can be underused if not monitored carefully, leaving businesses at risk of missing out on critical protection while still paying premium prices.

A lack of visibility can also leave IT and financial directors incapable of forecasting or budgeting accurately for future licensing needs. Instead, forecasting becomes guesswork and strategic planning suffers without a clear picture of what tools are being used and by who.

Take back control of your Microsoft licenses

What businesses need above all else is visibility.Having a clear map of all Microsoft licenses and renewal dates helps organisations answer questions like: are we allocating our software budget efficiently? Can we reduce licensing costs without sacrificing team productivity? Where will we be in 12 months and how do we get there?

That’s why at Soft-ex, we’ve created a solution to bring clarity to chaos. Our UCC Analyser enables businesses to track all Microsoft contracts and renewal dates in one place. Aspart of that, our clients:

·      Receive advance notifications before anyrenewal dates

·      See exactly which licenses are included ineach contract

·      Monitor usage trends to determine what’sworking and what’s not

·      Can decide whether to renew, reduce, reassign or retire licenses

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What really sets Soft-ex apart is our ability to support long-term planning and forecasting. By capturing historical licensing and usage data, we provide trend reports showing usage rates and unassigned licenses, as well as insights into license growth, especially around high-value suites like Microsoft E5. Our clients also receive recommendations on whether they’re rolling out licenses quickly enough, or holding onto expensive excess.

In our minds, Microsoft licensing shouldn’t be a hidden cost for any business. With Soft-ex, you’ll never miss another deadline, lose sight of license usage or get caught off guard again.

If you’re ready to regain control of your Microsoft contracts, talk to Soft-ex today and make missed renewals a thing of the past.

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Any organisation that claims to have true visibility of all customer engagements will be, at best, telling only half of the truth.

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Organisations house huge quantities of communication and collaboration data, from voice calls to chat messages and contact centre engagements. Yet for so many businesses, this information remains inaccessible, working in isolation or buried under layers of complexity.

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This data is key to unlock greater value and enhance business decision making; it’s time to recognise the actionable intelligence that lies beneath the surface.

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Here’s what you can do in three simple steps, and how Soft-ex helps at each stage.

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Step one: Consolidate your data

Data siloes are the enemy of true visibility. Enterprises operate across multiple platforms, including MicrosoftTeams, Cisco Webex, Zoom, legacy PBX systems and contact centres. The insights gathered from each individual channel is valuable, but it still leaves businesses with a fragmented view of their customer engagements and operations.

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Soft-ex simplifies data integration across multiple disparate systems, giving organisations a central view of every customer interaction. Teams will gain full visibility into usage patterns, customer engagement and service quality, rather than manually collating data from different platforms.

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Step two: Apply business logic – yours and others’

Unlocking data is only the first step; extracting value from it and applying it to genuine business cases is the ultimate objective. And your own business experience is crucial for doing this successfully.

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The expertise your team brings to the table should not be overlooked and instead championed. At the same time, external partners like Soft-ex come armed with a wealth of insight that can elevate the experience your own team offers, based on years of solving specific customer challenges. In the pursuit of better customer experience, don’t be afraid to bring in outside support.

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Step three: Deploy AI-powered analytics

Artificial intelligence is the final missing piece of the puzzle. AI-backed analytics helps businesses go beyond basic, manual reporting and replace it with real-time, data driven intelligence.

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With tools like Soft-ex’s intelligent analytics platform, organisations can gain detailed analytics on voice, video and conferencing channels, and use AI-powered insights to save costs and inform critical business decisions. Having access to personalised dashboards and informative visualisations also helps make sure stakeholders at every level have access to the right data to drive greater efficiencies, cut costs and improve overall customer service.

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Ready to take the first step?

Let us help you turn your data into a competitive advantage. If you want to get the most out of your communication and collaboration data, get in touch with Soft-ex today.

Microsoft 365 has been the go-to platform for workplace productivity, facilitating seamless communication and collaboration across its extensive suite of cloud-based applications. Managing M365 effectively requires visibility and control, especially during times of big business growth, but this is often where organisations struggle.

What are the barriers to effective M365 management?

One of the biggest issues that businesses face is wasted money on unused licenses. Without intuitive or granular data into active usage, it’s difficult to assess licensing needs across departments or teams.

This can lead to dormant accounts, improper permissions, or non-compliant usage, exposing the business to security or audit risks. Equally, there is a real issue with keeping license records updated in the case of leavers and joiners. Employees come and go, but licenses often remain active or forgotten.

The impact extends to finance teams who need accurate data to determine how to distribute software costs across the organisation. Without proper reporting though, it’s hard to factor M365 expenses to the appropriate cost centres.

What should businesses look for in 365 management software?

To get the most out of an investment, businesses need to know what they should expect from their tech from the outset.When it comes to Microsoft 365, here’s a checklist for what to look out for:

1.      Comprehensive license management. Your software should allow you to track, optimise and reassign licenses easily.

2.     Clear cost allocation. Make sure you choose a solution that helps break down and allocate costs by department, user group or whatever division is most useful for
you.

3.     Automatic reporting and advanced analytics. Getting your data more organised is only half the battle; your tool should leverage analytics to help you maximiseROI.

4.    User-friendly dashboards. The solution dashboard should be customisable, visually clear and easy to use for every team, including both IT and non-technical stakeholders.

5.     Seamless integration. The ideal solution should integrate directly with Microsoft APIs to capture real-time and accurate data.

6.    Security and compliance monitoring. Your tool should help you identify unused accounts, unusual user patterns and overlooked permission errors.

7.     Easy scalability. Your chosen solution should be able to grow with your business, including support for multi-tenant environments if needed.

8.    Customer support and onboarding. Alongside the tech, you should find a solution provider that delivers ongoing support, onboarding assistance and access to training resources.

Benefits of choosing Soft-ex

Managing Microsoft 365 shouldn’t become a headache for your business. To make it a painless process, Soft-ex’s 365Analyser…

…proactively tracks and manages your license renewal dates

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Missing deadlines is a root cause of unnecessary licenses renewals. So instead of leaving it to chance, we provide a consolidated view of all yourMicrosoft license agreements, including important dates. This provides teams with plenty of time to assess current usage, negotiate renewal terms and avoid unexpected cost hikes or service disruptions. In short, we make sure you only pay for what you need.

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…implements robust policies and procedures for license allocation

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Permission errors can cause significant problems later down the line if left unchecked. That’s why we help establish clear policies and procedures for license allocation to make sure the right person always has the right license.By monitoring user activity, teams can tailor license assignments to specific roles and needs. The platform identifies inactive accounts so that teams can decommission or reallocate as needed.

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…continuously monitors for Microsoft license changes

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It’s not just internal factors that can trigger change. We deliver insights into current license consumption so teams can make an informed decision should they need to reassess in the face of changes from Microsoft. With a greater understanding of the features included in each license type and how each is being used, it becomes a lot easier to identify where upgrades or downgrades are needed.Having this information at their fingertips allows businesses to respond quickly to license changes, minimising potential disruption to operations and unnecessary, unexpected costs.

Do you want to take all the pain out of managing your Microsoft 365 suite? Find out how Soft-ex can help by getting in touch today.

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